From Revolution to Ruin: Inside the ELN with a Former Commander

In a cluttered study overlooking the quiet edges of Colombia’s capital, León Valencia sits surrounded by books on Che Guevara and yellowed photographs from decades in the jungle.

The 70-year-old political analyst pauses when asked about his years as a guerrilla fighter in the distant jungles, his mind drifting to the cassette tapes he once recorded for his children while living clandestinely as a member of the National Liberation Army’s central command.

“We would record messages and send them back and forth,” Mr. Valencia tells me. “It was the only way to maintain some connection to them while I was in the mountains.”

Now one of Colombia’s most respected political analysts, Mr. Valencia has spent the past two decades founding the think tank PARES and authoring books on the country’s peace processes. His journey from guerrilla commander to public intellectual, however, offers a rare window into Colombia’s half-century of armed conflict and the complex political transitions now unfolding across Latin America.